1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of ice scrapers in general, and in
particular to an ice scraper handle designed to accommodate a plurality of elements, including a credit card or similar item as a reversible blade element.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,274,684; 4,542,554; 5,263,222; and 5,418,998, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse fixed and replaceable blade ice scraping devices.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical ice scraper construction designed to accommodate either a standard equipment reversible scraper blade and a deflector element or in an emergency, a conventional credit card.
As most people in colder climates are all too well aware, the primary problem with fixed blade ice scrapers is that once the scraper blade is broken, the device is virtually useless. Furthermore, the problem with replaceable blade ice scrapers is the fact that they will only accept a replacement blade that is specifically designed for that particular ice scraper. In addition, most ice scrapers do not make any provision to deflect ice and snow away from a user""s hand during the scraping process.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved type of ice scraper construction that not only is provided with a replacement blade and ice deflector, but which also is designed to accept a conventional credit card as a scraper blade substitute, and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.
Briefly stated, the preferred embodiment of the ice scraper construction that forms the basis of the present invention comprises in general, a handle unit, a deflector unit, and a blade unit. The handle unit includes a contoured handle member fabricated from a generally flexible material and provided with a plurality of elongated slots provided with gripping means for releasably engaging the blade unit and the deflector unit.
As will be explained in greater detail further on in the specification, while the blade unit of the preferred embodiment comprises a generally rigid reversible blade member dimensioned to be received in the handle slot and provided with discrete apertures that cooperate with the blade gripping means in the handle member, the handle member of the alternate version of the preferred embodiment is also designed to releasably receive a conventional plastic credit card should the reversible blade member become lost, or otherwise rendered unusable.